George W. Bush was known as the country’s first MBA president. But the man who famously and repeatedly relied on his instincts and led with “a retreat from empiricism,” as Ron Suskind wrote in a 2004 profile, was about the furthest thing from a data-driven, numbers-based leader there could be.

Even if Bush was the first president to have an MBA, Romney might be the first one to have the degree and act like it. In debates he is at home in the numbers, spouting off facts and figures with impressive ease. He doesn’t just rely on data; he revels in it. “There are answers in numbers—gold in numbers,” the candidate wrote in his book about turning around the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. “Pile the budgets on my desk and let me wallow.”

Romney’s pragmatic, fact-driven style attracts supporters disillusioned by Obama’s promises for change and Bush’s certainty and faith. Romney’s followers aren’t necessarily looking for grand inspiration. They’re looking for someone who can execute on solutions, even if they’re incremental ones that don’t pass every test of ideological purity. He offers a realistic and rational approach that has led to charges of flip-floppery, but that also exhibits a flexibility and adaptability that’s critical for any leader.

In a GOP primary season that has been so entirely centered on one man—the race has been defined by Mitt Romney and a rotating cast of not-Romneys—one might think that person would be someone with particularly outsized personality traits. And yet, there is Romney: No overly grand orator, but unflappable and articulate in the debates. Socially awkward, but with a composure of presence. No leader of a passionate ideological movement, but thoughtful about executing and solving problems.

In other words: His greatest leadership trait may be that he is reassuring. “Leaders who say ‘when I can do something about it, I’ll do it’ won’t capture everybody, but it does give people confidence,” says Dave Ulrich, a professor at University of Michigan’s business school who, like Romney, is Mormon, and who has written several books about leadership. Such a pragmatic style, he says, “is not exciting, it’s not dramatic. But it works.”

Jena McGregorJena McGregor writes on leadership issues in the headlines – corporate management and governance, workplace trends and the personalities who run Washington and business. Prior to writing for the Washington Post, she was an associate editor for BusinessWeek and Fast Company magazines and began her journalism career as a reporter at Smart Money. Follow

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